Audible-signal clock



July 7, 1942. E. AGER-WICK AUDIBLE-SIGNAL CLOCK Filed June 12, 1936 3Sheets-Sheet l E. AGER-WICK AUDIBLE July 7, 1942.

-SIGNALVGLOCK Filed June 12, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 7, 1942. E.AGER-WICK AUDIBLE-SIGNAL CLOCK Filed June 12, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Patented July 7, 1942 AUDIBLE-SIGNAL CLOCK Emil Ager-Wick, Arendal,Norway, assignor, by

direct and mesne assignments, to The E. Ingraham Company, Bristol,Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application June 12, 1936, SerialNo. 84,793

8 Claims. (Cl. 5838) This invention relates to an improvement inaudible-signal clocks such, for instance, as strike clocks, chimeclocks, ships bells clocks, combinations of the same, etc. Moreparticularly, the

present invention relates to audible-signal clocks the signal-mechanismmay be driven from the same source of power as is the time-mechanism.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an audible-signalclock of the class referred to which will be free from objectionablenoises during the interval between the soundingof the audible signals.

A still further object is to provide a superior audible-signal clock ofthe rack-ancl-snail type characterized by compactness.

With the above and other objects in View, as-

will appear to those skilled in the art from the following, consideredin conjunction with the accompanying drawings and appended claims, thepresent invention includes all features disclosed therein which arenovel over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a rackand-snail strike clockembodying the present invention, the parts being shown in the positionswhich they normally occupy in the intervals between the sounding of anaudible signal;

Fig. 2 is an under-edge view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view corresponding to Fig. 1, but showingthe rack in its lowered position preparatory to final bodily movementtoward the gathering-pins;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the rack shifted to the right into thepath of the gathering-pins for being actuated thereby;

Fig. 5 is a similar view, but showing the rack and associated parts inthe positions which they assume directly after the completion of thestriking cycle of the clock;

Fig. 6 is a broken detail sectional View taken on the line 66 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the unit comprising the rack-carrier andthe rack;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the unit comprising the rack-controldisk and the supplemental rack-control disk; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the rack-pawl.

The particular audible-signal clock herein chosen for the illustrationof the present in vention is of the strike type, designed to strike eachhour, and is driven by a synchronous electric motor, though other motivepower such, for instance, as a spring-motor, may be employed.

The synchronous electric strike clock shown includes a frontmovement-plate 20 and a rear movement-plate 2| arranged parallel andspaced from each other by a suitable number of pillars 22. Secured tothe rear of the rear movementplate 2| is a synchronous electric motorwhich requires no detail description other than to say that, as shown inFig. 2, it includes a fieldstructure 23 having an energizing-coil 24 anda rotor 25 mounted upon a motor-shaft 26 carrying at its rear end astarting-button 21. Adjacent its forward end and intermediate themovement-plates 20 and 2|, the said shaft is provided with adriving-pinion 28.

The clock herein illustrated includes both a time-train and astrike-train, and for purpose of clarity of description, the time-trainwill be first described.

The driving-pinion 28 of the motor-shaft 26 meshes into and drives agear-wheel 29 located intermediate the front and rear movement-plates 20and 2| and is rigidly mounted upon an arbor 30 bearing in the saidplates. The gear-wheel 29 carries a pinion 3| which meshes into anddrives a gear-wheel 32 mounted upon a shaft 33 journaled at itsrespective opposite ends in the movement-plates 20 and 2|.

The gear-wheel 32, above referred to, carries a pinion 34 which in turnmeshes into and drives a gear-wheel 35 secured to the center-arbor 36 ofthe clock, which arbor is journaled in the movement-plates 20 and 2| andextends through and forwardly of the front movement-plate 20 for thepurpose as will hereinafter appear. The gear-wheel 35 carriesa pinion 31which meshes into and drives a gear-wheel 38 mounted upon an arbor 39journaled in the movement-plates 20 and 2| and carrying a pinion 40.

The pinion 40, just above referred to, meshes into and drives aminute-wheel 4| which is mounted with freedom for relative movement upona minute-sleeve 42, which is, in turn, mounted upon the center-arbor 36with freedom for rotation with respect thereto. The said minutewheel 4|is frictionally coupled to the minutesleeve 42 in a manner usual inclocks to permit manual setting, by means of a spring-washer 43 (Fig.6), andbears at its rear face against a pinion 44 which is rigidlystaked to the rear end of the minute-sleeve 42, before referred to.

The pinion 1 5 meshes into and drives a gearwheel 45 located just to therear of the front movement-plate 2i) and rigidly attached to an arbor 45which is journaled in the said front movement-plate 2!. The forward endof the arbor 46 extends through the front movementplate and has theresecured to it a pinion 41 which meshes into and drives an hour-wheel 48which is rigidly secured to the rear end of an hour-sleeve 49. Thehour-sleeve, just referred to, is mounted with freedom for rotation uponthe minute-sleeve 42, before described.

The minute-sleeve 32, in the usual manner of clocks, is adapted to mounta minute-hand, indicated by broken lines 50 in Fig. 2, and similarly thehour-sleeve 49 is adapted to mount an hour-hand, which is also indicatedin the said figure by broken lines 5|.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the minute-hand 55 and thehour-hand 5| are continuously driven at the correct rate of speed by therotor 25 of the synchronous motor mounted upon the rear movement-plate 2l.

The strike-train of the clock is driven by the same synchronous motorwhich drives the timetrain, before referred to, as will presentlyappear.

The hour-sleeve 49 is, as before described, rotated by the hour-wheel 48and in addition to carrying the hour-hand 5!, the said sleeve alsorigidly carries adjacent its forward end a snail 52 having on itsperiphery a series of twelve concentric steps 53, each of which islocated a different distance fromthe axis of the snail, in the usualmanner of rack-and-snail clocks.

Coacting on occasion with the vartious steps 53 of the snail 52 is acount-pin 54 rigidly mounted in the radial arm 55 of a rack, which isgenerally designated by the numeral 55. rack also has a usual curved arm51 in the outer edge of which is formed a series of ratchetteeth 58. Therack 55 is mounted for pivotal movement upon a stud 59 carried at theouter end of an oscillatable rack-carrier 60.. The said rack 58 is alsoformed with a depending liftingfinger 5| which is adapted on occasion,as will hereinafter appear, to engage a pin-like abutment 62 rigidlymounted in and forwardly extending from the front movement-plate 20.

The rackcarrier 50, before referred to, is rigidly provided at its lowerend with a bushing 63, which fits over and oscillates upon a stud 64projecting forwardly from the front movement-plate 29. For the purposeof urging the rack-carrier 60 from left to right, a spring 65 isprovided, which has one of its ends hooked through an opening 55 in thefront movementplate 20 and which has its opposite end hooked beneath afinger 6'! struck up from the rackcarrier Ell, as clearly shown in thedrawings.

The upper end of the rack-carrier is bent rearwardly at right angles toprovide a relativelybroad-faced control-finger 58 which is adapted toride upon the perimeter of a rack-control disk 69 and also upon theperiphery of the dropoff nose 1B of a supplemental rack-control disk 1|(Fig. 8). The rack-control disk 59 is rigidly mounted upon a bushing 12which in turn is rigidly mounted upon the minute-sleeve 42 so as to ineffect form a part thereof. The supplemental rack-control disk H ismounted upon the bushing 12 with freedom for limited turning movementwith respect thereto and with respect to the rack-control disk 69 andlies imme- The said diately adjacent the forward face of the said disk69.

The rack-control disk 69 is deeply notched, as is clearly shown in Fig.8, to provide a rackretiring cam 13 and a rack-advancing cam 14diverging from each other. Normally the dropoff nose T0 of thesupplemental rack-control disk H overlaps the cam Id of the rack-controldisk 69 and is yieldingly held in such position by providing it with anarcuate slot l5 which results in the formation of a spring-finger 15.The said spring-finger has its free end rearwardly bent as at 1'! forentry into an anchoringaperture 18 formed in the rack-control disk 69.The spring-finger I6 exerts a constant effort to turn the supplementalrack-control disk II in a counterclockwise direction with respect to thedisk 69 so as to cause its drop-off nose 10 to overlap therack-advancing cam 14. The urge of the spring-finger 16, just described,is limited, however, by the engagement of the end of the slot 15 in thedisk II with a stop-pin rigidly offsetting from the rack-control disk69.

Adjacent its lower end, the arm 5! of the rack 56 has one of its teeth58 cut away to provide a relatively-deep notch SI for the reception ofthe nose 82 of a rack-pawl 83, which nose is so shaped as to provide acam-surface 84 which coacts with the one of the ratchet-teeth 58 nextabove the notch 8|, in a manner as will hereinafter appear.

The rack-pawl 83 is pivotally mounted upon a stud 85 forwardlyoffsetting from the front movement-plate 20 and is yieldingly urged in acounterclockwise direction for engaging its nose 82 with the teeth 58 ofthe rack 56, by the free end of a spring 85 having its opposite endanchored to the forward end of one of the pillars 22. The swingingmovement of the rackpawl 83 under the urge of the spring 86, when thesaid pawl is not engaged with the rack 55,

'is limited by providing the said pawl withan upwardly-extendingstop-finger 8'! which is engageable with a stop-pin 88 forwardlyoffsetting from the front movement-plate 20.

Also pivotally mounted upon the stud 85 intermediate the rack-pawl 83and the forward face of the front movement-plate 20 is a hammer-arm 89carrying a usual hammer-head 90 for engagement with a gong-rod or othersuitable sounder 9l. The descent of the hammer- .arm 89, after the samehas been lifted in the manner as will hereinafter appear, is limited bya stop-pin 92 forwardly offsetting from thefront movement-plate 20. Theupper end of the'hammer-arm 89 is. forwardly bent to provide anactuating-finger 93 which is engaged for the purpose of lifting thehammer-head 96 by the stop-finger 81 of the rack-pawl 83 in a manner aswill more fully hereinafter appear.

For the purpose of effecting the step-by-step lifting of the rack 56after the same has descended just prior to the initiation of thestriking in a manner usual in strike clocks, the arbor 30 beforedescribed has its forward end extended through the front movement-plate20, where it rigidly carries a head 94, which latter is equipped withtwo diametrically-opposite forwardly-extending so-called gathering-pins95-95, which function as rack-return means and which'continuously swingaround the arbor 30' inasmuch as the said arbor also formsla feature ofthe time-train previouslydescribed.

In the intervals between thestriking of the clock on each hour,"the'various parts will'occupy the positions in which they are shownparticularly well in Fig. 1, in which it will be noted that the rack 55is retired laterally away from the path of movement of thegathering-pins 95 so as to be unaffected thereby. The rack is held inthe position referred to by the bearing of the control-finger 68 of therack-carrier 60 upon the periphery of the rack-control disk 69 and bythe engagement of the lifting-finger 6| of the said rack with theabutment 62.

When in the continuous rotation of the rackcontrol disk (one revolutionper hour), the rackadvancing cam 14 thereof comes into registration withthe finger 68, the rack-shifting spring 65 will be permitted to swingthe rack-carrier 60 from left to right, with the effect of moving thesaid rack partway from left to right to disengage the lifting-finger 6|from the abutment 62 and thus permit the said rack to swing about thestud 59 and drop by gravity until its countpin 54 rests upon theperiphery of the particular one of the steps 53 of the snail 52 whichhappens to be in position beneath it.

In riding down the rack-advancing cam 14 of the disk 65, thecontrol-finger 68 of the rackcarrier 50 will ultimately be temporarilychecked by its engagement with the periphery of the drop-off nose T ofthe supplemental rack-control disk H. The parts will now have assumedthe positions in which they are shown in Fig. 3.

When, now, in the continued rotation of the two rack-control disks 69and ll, the drop-off nose 16 of the latter disk passes from under thecontrol-finger 68 of the rack-carrier 59, said carrier will veryabruptly swing to a further eX- tent from left to right under the urgeof the spring 55, with the effect of bringing the ratchetteeth 55 of therack 56 into the path of travel of the gathering-pins 95. The parts willnow have assumed the position in which they are shown in Fig. 4.

With the ratchet-teeth now in the position shown in Fig. 4, thegathering-pins 95 will alternately efiect the step-by-step lifting ofthe rack 55, with the result that for each step, the rackpawl 83 will becammed back and thus cause the stop-finger 8? thereof to engage theactuatingfinger 93 of the hammer-arm 89 and raise the latter into theposition in which it is indicated by broken lines in Fig. 4. After agiven tooth has cammed back the rack-pawl 83, as described, and as soonas the tooth in question has passed the nose of the said pawl, the saidpawl will swing from right to left to permit the hammer head 95 todescend by gravity and strike the gong-rod 9|.

When the gathering-pins 95 have raised the rack 55 to its uppermostposition as shown in Fig. 5, the nose 82 of the rack-pawl 83 will beswung into the notch 8! in the said rack by the spring 85, with theeifect of causing the camsurface 8 3 to engage with the particular tooth58 immediately above the said notch and effect the further though slightlifting of the rack to a degree sufficient to bring its lowermost tooth58 slightly above the path of travel of the gathering-pins 95. Thisfinal slight lift of the rack 56 by the nose 82 of the rack-pawl 83serves to shift the lowermost tooth 53 of the said rack above the pathof movement of the gatheringpins 55 as described, and thus preventsundesirable noise which would otherwise be occasioned by the engagementof the continuouslymoving gathering-pins with the lower end of saidrack.

shown in Fig. 1.

It will be appreciated that the hammeparm is lifted and dropped once foreach lifting action of either one of the gathering-pins 95. As is usualin rack-and-snail strike clocks, the degree of descent of the rack 56,and hence the number of strokes imparted to the hammer-arm 89, isdetermined by which of the various steps 53 of the snail 52 is inposition to be engaged by the count-pin 54. Inasmuch as the said snail52 is coupled to the hour-sleeve, it is shifted so as to present a newone of the said steps 53 for each hour of a twelve-hour period.

After the clock has struck, as before described, and the parts haveassumed the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 5, the continuedrotation of the rack-control disk 69 will bring the rack-retiring cam 13thereof into engagement with the rack-control finger 68 of therackcarrier 60 and in a short period of time will retire the saidrack-carried and the rack 56 from right to left into the positions inwhich they are This retiring movement of the rack, as just described,will engage the liftingfinger 6| of the rack 56 with the abutment 62,and thus serve to raise the said rack to a degree sufficient to retireits count-pin 54 out of the path of the highest one of the steps 53. Theparts will now have resumed the positions in which they are shown inFig. 1, preparatory to the striking of the clock on the next succeedinghour.

The clock may be set by moving its hands either forwardly or backwardly,in which event the rack-control disk 69 will turn with the minute-hand.In the event that the clock should be turned backwardly, therack-control finger 68 of the rack-carrier 60 will be brought intoengagement with the substantially-radial edge of the drop-off nose 15 ofthe supplemental rackcontrol disk H and will effect the retirementthereof against the urge of its spring-finger l6, and will ride up thecam 14 of the disk 69 without undue hindrance. Thus, simple, reliableand effective provision is made for permitting the clock to be turnedeither forwardly or backwardly without deranging the mechanism oraltering the relationship between the hands of the clock and the snail52, which serves to control the number of strokes of the hammer-arm 89.

The clock hereinbefore described is an hourstrike, but it will beobvious to those familiar with the art that the mechanism may beembodied in hour and half-hour strike clocks, chime clocks, ships bellsclocks, etc.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than thoseherein set forth without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments aretherefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination: a snail; a rack cooperating with the said snail and movablewith respect thereto; continuously-moving rackoperating means engageablewith the said rack to effect the step-by-step retirement thereof; and aspring-pressed pawl engageable with said rack and serving to prevent thereturn movement of the said rack after the same is moved by the saidrack-operating means, the said spring-pressed pawl being constructed andarranged to impart to the said rack a supplemental retiring movementafter the same has been retired by the said rackoperating means to thelimit of the action of the latter.

2. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination: a snail; a rack carrying lever pivoted at one end andspring loaded for motion in one direction, said lever having aprojecting lip at its free end; a rack pivoted to the free end of saidrack carrying lever and bodily movable by same; said rack being inoperable engagement with said snail; a rack retiring cam mounted on thecenter post of the clock, said cam being in operable engagement withsaid lip of the rack carrying lever; automatic continuously moving rackoperating means engageable with said rack when said lip of the rackcarrying lever is in a given position, and hammer means operable by saidrack whereby the clock strikes as many strokes as predetermined by theposition of the said snail.

3. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type claimed in claim 2where said rack retiring cam comprises a disc cam having a circularshape along part of its periphery and being deeply notched at one point,said notching forming a rack retiring cam on one side and a rackadvancing cam on the other side of the deepest point of the said notch,said rack retiring cam being rigidly mounted to the center post of saidclock; a second control cam rotatably mounted on the center post of saidcam coaxially with and on one side of said retiring cam, said secondcontrol cam having a nose-like extension projecting in front of thenotched-out portion of said rack retiring cam and being tied to saidrack-retiring cam by a spring member, said rack retiring cam and saidsecond control cam being capable of coacting when in operable engagementwith said projecting lip of the said rack carrying lever, whereby saidrack may be bodily moved in and out of engagement with the rackoperating means at timed intervals.

4. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination a snail; a bodily-shiftable rack cooperating with the saidsnail and movable with respect thereto; continuously-moving rackoperating means engageable with the said rack to effect the step-by-stepmovement thereof; automatic control means effecting the bodily shiftingof the said rack from a position removed from the path of movement ofthe continuously-moving rack operating means into the path of said meansat the start of a signal-sounding period and also serving to return thesaid rack to said removed position after the termination of suchsignal-sounding period; and an abutment engageable by the said rack whenthe same is shifted to said removed position as described and serving tofully retire the said rack.

5. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination a snail; a rack-carrier; a rack carried for bodily movementby the said rack-carrier and cooperating with the said snail;continuously-moving rack operating means engageable with the said rackto eifect the step-by-step movement thereof; automatic control-meansacting upon the said rack-carrier and serving to move the same to eifectthe bodily shifting of the said rack from a position removed from thepath of movement of the continuously moving rack operating means intothe path of movement of same at the start of a signal-sounding periodand also serving to return the said rack to said removed position afterthe termination of such signal-sounding period; and an abutmentengageable by the said rack when the same is shifted to said removedposition as described and serving to fully retire the said rack.

6. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination a snail; a rack-carrier; a rack pivoted to the saidrack-carrier and bodily movable therewith and cooperating with the saidsnail; continuously-moving rack-operating means engageable with the saidrack to eifect the step-by-step pivotal movement thereof; automaticcontrol-means acting upon the said rack-carrier and serving to move sameto effect the bodily shifting of the said rack from a position removedfrom the path of movement of the continuously-moving rack operatingmeans into the path of movement of same at the start of asignal-sounding period and also serving to shift the said rack to saidremoved position after the termination of such signal-sounding period;and an abutment engageable by the said rack when the same is shifted tosaid removed position as described and serving to swing the said rackinto its fully-retired position.

'7. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination a snail; a pivoted rack-carrier; a rack carried by the saidpivotal rack-carrier for bodily movement therewith and cooperating withthe said snail; continuously-moving rack-operating means engageable withthe said rack to effect the step-by-step movement thereof; automaticcontrol-means acting upon the said pivotal rack-carrier and serving toswing the same to efiect the bodily shifting of the said rack from aposition removed from the path of movement of the continuously-movingrack operating means into the path of movement of same at the start of asignal-sounding period and also serving to'return the said rack to saidremoved position after the termination of such signal-sounding period;and an abutment engageable by the said rack when the same is shifted tosaid removed position as described and serving to fully retire the saidrack.

8. An audible-signal clock of the rack-andsnail type including incombination a snail; a pivotal rack-carrier; a rack pivoted to the saidpivotal rack-carrier for bodily movement therewith and cooperating withthe said snail; continuously-moving rack operating means engageable withthe said rack to effect the step-by-step pivotal retirement thereof;automatic controlmeans acting upon the said pivotal rack-carrier andserving to swing the same to eifect the bodily shifting of the said rackfrom a position removed from the path of movement of the continuouslymoving rack operating means into the path of movement of same at thestart of a signal-sounding period and also serving to return the saidrack to said removed position after the termination of suchsignal-sounding period; and an abutment engageable by the said rack whenthe same is shifted to said removed position as described and serving toswing the said rack into its fully retired position.

EMIL AGER-WICK.

